Abstract Title

Abstract

Fictive kinship is a concept by Kath Weston used to describe how LGBTQ+ individuals form alternative families among friends and relationships. Using this as the basis for exploring how drag culture has a similar model to the contemporary nuclear family. The musical La Cage Aux Folles has excellent examples of both fictive and drag families and we can use this to compare to the play Hosanna and contrast how drag and fictive families are portrayed in theatre. Using sources like RuPaul’s Drag Race and Paris is Burning as representations of drag queens and using these to compare representations of drag culture on the stage we can dissect how the concept of a nuclear family crosses boundaries to apply to drag families and fictive families in LGBTQ+ culture.

La Cage Aux Folles’s comedic approach to familial ties and fictive kinship is a stark contrast to Hosanna’s dark yet realistic feel. The LGBTQ+ families featured in both shows can be translated to the nuclear family concept and then using both scripts and media as examples to show how this concept can be applied to drag and fictive families. Weston’s fictive family concept can be extended beyond just a family and child relationship; with drag families you also see sibling rivalry and other familial relationships. The conflicts that are created from familial ties within both scriptscan translate to any audience; these kinds of tensions arise in any family, and the resolutions found within both shows are plausible conclusions to the problems presented.

Modified Abstract

Fictive kinship is a concept by Kath Weston used to describe how LGBTQ+ individuals form alternative families among friends and relationships. Using this as the basis for exploring how drag culture has a similar model to the contemporary nuclear family. La Cage Aux Folles has excellent examples of both fictive and drag families and we can use this to compare to the play Hosanna and contrast how drag and fictive families are portrayed in theatre. Using sources like RuPaul’s Drag Race and Paris is Burning as representations of drag queens and using these to compare representations of drag culture on the stage we can dissect how the concept of a nuclear family crosses boundaries to apply to drag families and fictive families in LGBTQ+ culture.

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Apr 5th, 1:00 PM

The Drag Nuclear Family; How Theatre Challenges the Heteronormative Nuclear Family

Fictive kinship is a concept by Kath Weston used to describe how LGBTQ+ individuals form alternative families among friends and relationships. Using this as the basis for exploring how drag culture has a similar model to the contemporary nuclear family. The musical La Cage Aux Folles has excellent examples of both fictive and drag families and we can use this to compare to the play Hosanna and contrast how drag and fictive families are portrayed in theatre. Using sources like RuPaul’s Drag Race and Paris is Burning as representations of drag queens and using these to compare representations of drag culture on the stage we can dissect how the concept of a nuclear family crosses boundaries to apply to drag families and fictive families in LGBTQ+ culture.

La Cage Aux Folles’s comedic approach to familial ties and fictive kinship is a stark contrast to Hosanna’s dark yet realistic feel. The LGBTQ+ families featured in both shows can be translated to the nuclear family concept and then using both scripts and media as examples to show how this concept can be applied to drag and fictive families. Weston’s fictive family concept can be extended beyond just a family and child relationship; with drag families you also see sibling rivalry and other familial relationships. The conflicts that are created from familial ties within both scriptscan translate to any audience; these kinds of tensions arise in any family, and the resolutions found within both shows are plausible conclusions to the problems presented.